Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Big announcement - my wife, the ever generous and understanding BrooklynLady, has decided that I should go on a trip before our second baby comes at the end of December. She felt that I won't be going anywhere for quite some time after that, so I should go now. Can you believe that?!? She even used her vast store of airline miles to get me the ticket. What a wife, I tell you, I am truly a lucky man. I have to find some sort of bauble over there to buy for her as a present...

Where am I going? I'm going to France. To a little place called Burgundy and another little place called Champagne ! ! ! This gets three exclamation points, for those of you who are counting. I travel with Peter Liem and a friend of his to visit producers and drink wine, to eat at all sorts of restaurants, and who knows what else.

I'm obviously going to write about the trip when I return, but I just want to give you a sense of what I'm talking about here, the types of producers we'll be visiting in Burgundy. Just a few of them, not the exhaustive list. I'm talking about Rousseau, Mugnier, and Dujac, where we will stay for dinner afterwards. This is not fantasy - this is real, people. I guess it is fantasy too, in a way. One little tragedy - I will not be able to make it from Paris in time to join them at the Romanée-Conti appointment. But such is life, and the whole trip is an incredible gift. Imagine that though, beginning several days of drinking in Burgundy with an appointment at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti...

In Champagne I know we'll visit René Geoffroy and Diebolt-Vallois. Not sure about the rest yet. And that's just the wine - what about all of the food? This is the time of year when everyone has their fireplace going during the day and they burn the old cane in the vineyards. It's a sweetly smoky and sensual experience just walking down the road.

I leave right after Thanksgiving, the same time of year as when I first visited Burgundy two years ago. Need I tell you that I am chomping at the bit?

Peter - be careful about doing that because she might also read your blog and then she would undoubtedly notice that every time you post you very quickly get about 17 comments from various admiring young women. Some of them with attractive photos attached to their names. I would leave this one alone if I were you...